Demand Cleaner Cars to Help Address Climate Change

Demand Cleaner Cars to Help Address Climate Change

Summer 2018 may be over, but it brought home a powerful lesson. The climate crisis has arrived, and it’s ugly. Cleaner cars can help head off the worst-case climate crisis scenarios. But will Americans speak out for reduced carbon emissions and improved fuel efficiency?

Nonetheless, The Trump administration is doubling down on gas-guzzling cars and more auto emissions that feed the global climate crisis.5

Car Emissions and Climate Change

Car emissions collect in the atmosphere, trapping heat and fueling climate change. And U.S. autos play a major role in the worsening climate crisis. In fact, the US is responsible for more climate change-causing carbon emissions than any other country in history.

Despite this, the Trump administration has proposed delaying stronger federal rules on vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency requirements. The rules were adopted during the last administration to help rein in carbon emissions and other pollution from US automobiles.6

The proposed delay would mean that an extra 321 million to 931 million metric tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted. And it would unleash those greenhouse gasses as climate change increasingly threatens wildlife, wild places, and the lives and livelihoods of people around the world.7,8

Worse, a major new scientific study says that we may soon reach a point of no return. Unless we take dramatic action soon, we may no longer be able to avoid the most devastating climate change scenarios and biomes around the world will become unrecognizable.9

How You Can Help

The good news is that — despite the Administration’s current position — there is a real chance we can win this fight.

Serious questions have been raised about some of the proposal’s underlying assumptions.10 And it’s hard to imagine Americans embracing a proposal that would have them buying more gas and paying more at the pump.

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